Trump officials blocked US Steel from stopping work at plant

(Bloomberg) — The US blocked United States Steel Corp.’s plan to stop production at a plant in Illinois, according to a Trump administration official, a move highlighting the federal government’s continued influence over an iconic American firm after approving its takeover by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp.

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The action, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday, was confirmed by an official on condition of anonymity.

“US Steel will continue to supply slabs to Granite City,” the company said in a statement Friday. “As we shared earlier, our goal was to maintain flexibility, and we are pleased to have found a solution to continue to slab consumption at Granite City.”

Nippon Steel clinched its $14.1 billion deal for US Steel in June after a year and a half of negotiations over a contentious deal became a political flashpoint in the 2024 presidential election.

The move, which created the world’s second-largest steelmaker, was approved by President Donald Trump after concessions made by Nippon Steel, including a “golden share” scheme that gives the administration a say in certain business actions.

The Journal reported Friday that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick informed US Steel Chief Executive Officer Dave Burritt that Trump was invoking the golden share to keep operations running at the Granite City plant, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Trump and his Democratic rivals in the 2024 election campaigned against the deal, but the president reversed his position once in office, saying that the agreement would help preserve steel jobs in the US. To help clinch the deal, the Japanese company also agreed to invest an additional $11 billion by 2028. Nippon had previously raised its pledged additional investment in an effort to win Trump’s backing.

US Steel last week said it would focus on producing and processing steel slabs at two other facilities while reducing slab consumption at the Granite City plant in Illinois. It said the Granite City facility would be maintained in an operational state and that no employee there would be laid off or have their pay adjusted, casting the decision as one that would allow US Steel to “maintain future flexibility, while maximizing our domestic production footprint.”

The United Steelworkers, in a statement Friday, accused US Steel of trying to “wiggle out of its commitments and make the kind of changes we warned were coming” before backing down.